ROB DAVIES, Johannesburg | Tuesday 10.15am.
WHEN the South African mid-week rugby team take on Edinburgh Reivers at Eastern Road on Tuesday evening Springbok coach Nick Mallett will have his selection spectacles focused on more than one Test hopeful.
We all know that Mallett prefers not to change a winning combination, but after Saturday’s near-catastrophe win against Wales the Bok mentor needs to look long and hard at at least two Test regulars.
In an interesting move, Mallett has opted to play Falcons flyhalf Braam van Straaten at inside centre, a move which may pay dividends, but it is unlikely that Van Straaten will outperform Lourens Venter in this position.
Either way, the attention focused on the position signifies that Mallett is worried about the berth in his Test line-up, and with good reason. Franco Smith, who played the role of a kicking tackling dummy on Saturday, must be kept at flyhalf. Smith is a good player, but once he is boxed in his angles go awry and he turns his outside players into sitting ducks.
While Venter’s inexperience counts against him, the man is still physical enough to intimidate his opposite number, rather like a very pacy Pieter Muller. The argument that Andre Snyman and Venter play the same game and therefore will not gel also does not hold water.
Snyman, it seems, struggles to communicate with virtually any centre partner except Dick Muir, and this was apparent during the first couple of Tests he played alongside Muller.
Percy Montgomery’s play at fullback on Saturday was shockingly second rate. Former All Black Shane Howarth played Monty into the ground and, in fact, it is doubtful whether the Bok number-fifteen should have played at all.
Montgomery was too pre-occupied with his hamstring to play any form of constructive rugby, and should have been given the chance to recuperate fully from the injury instead of playing below-par rugby.
Griquas wunderkind Gaffie du Toit is waiting in the wings, and although the youngster has shown that he is only human, he does possess something that Monty has apparently lost, a vital ingredient called desire. Du Toit wants to play, has the ability, presence and vision and should be given a Test run.
Come Tuesday evening, the midweekers will not find the running all that hard against Reivers, and Mallett will have the perfect opportunity to find players willing to go the extra mile. Mallett has class in all 36 players brought on tour, and must know, in his heart, that the Green Machine is starting to lose muscle, and he has just the spares to fix it.
Teams:
South Africa:
Breyton Paulse; Robert Markram, Robbie Fleck, Braam van Straaten, Deon Kayser; Christian Stewart, Chad Alcock; Bobby Skinstad (c), Andre Vos, Corne Krige, Philip Smit, Selborne Boome, Willie Meyer, Owen Nkumane, Toks van der Linde. Reserves: Gaffie du Toit, Lourens Venter, Werner Swanepoel, Johnny Trytsman, Ollie le Roux, Naka Drotske.
Edinburgh Reivers:
Stuart Lang; Hugh Gilmour, Scott Hastings, Iain Fairley, John Kerr; Scott Welsh, Graeme Burns; Brian Renwick (c), Iain Sinclair, Adam Roxburgh, Iain Fullarton, Darren Burns, Barry Stewart, Stephen Scott, Ross McNulty. Reserves: Alistair Common, Scott Nichol, Gordon Ross, Carl Hogg, Tammas McVie, Peter Wright, Jim Hay.